A runoff election is scheduled for October 1 in District 71 of the Georgia House of Representatives. Marcy Sakrison (R) and Philip Singleton (R) are competing in the runoff. Sakrison and Singleton advanced to the runoff after defeating Jill Prouty (D) and Nina Blackwelder (R) in the September 3 general election. The runoff election was called since no candidate received more than 50 percent of the overall vote.
The seat became vacant after David Stover (R) resigned on June 25. In his resignation letter, Stover wrote that he wanted to spend time with his family. Stover had represented District 71 since 2013. He was last re-elected in 2018 with 74% of the vote in the general election.
As of September, 77 state legislative special elections have been scheduled or held in 24 states. Between 2011 and 2018, an average of 77 special elections took place each year.
Heading into the election, Republicans have a 103-75 majority in the Georgia House with two vacancies. Georgia has a Republican state government trifecta. A trifecta exists when one political party simultaneously holds the governor’s office and majorities in both state legislative chambers.
Additional reading:
https://ballotpedia.org/State_legislative_special_elections,_2019
https://ballotpedia.org/Georgia_House_of_Representatives
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